The breakup
by harrypotterlookalikex
Summary: Ron and Hermione, as usual, have had a fight. But this time, there is more at stake...
1. Chapter 1

**The Break-up**

The Argument

It was a normal day in Ottery St Catchpole, when suddenly the normality was disturbed by the raised voices of Ron and Hermione Weasley.

Not for the first time, Hermione and Ron were arguing about a trifling thing. This time, Ron had annoyed Hermione by not preparing the dinner before Hermione returned from yet another late night at the Ministry of Magic offices in London. Normally this would not have been a problem, but he had not put their daughter Rose to bed. After an angry Hermione had rounded on her husband, she discovered that instead of doing the list of chores she had left him, he had gone to play Quiddich with his best friend Harry and his children, James and Albus. This proved the final straw for poor Hermione, who had had a trying day and had hoped to come home to a clean and tidy cottage. In a desperate attempt to make amends, Ron had tidied up with his wand, having insisted that it would 'only take a second'. Hermione was slightly mollified, but carried on lambasting Ron, on the grounds that he should have tidied up earlier, if it 'only took a second'. Ron merely shrugged, causing Hermione to conjure some more attacking birds, which promptly launched themselves at Ron.

Now satisfied that he had been punished enough for then, Hermione stalked upstairs to bed, and fell into a deep and dreamless sleep. She was so tired she did not hear her husband follow suit some hours later.

Hermione woke early the next Saturday morning, and was glad that she didn't need to work that day. It took her a moment to remember why she was so upset and sad. Then it all came flooding back and a large knot of anxiety settled somewhere between her chest and her stomach.

After she washed, dressed, cleaned her teeth, she roused her daughter Rose, saving the more sleepy Hugo for later, when he had had his full quota of sleep after a late night playing Quiddich. Then she composed herself and thought about what she would say to her husband. As she entered the kitchen, she took in deep breaths, shut her eyes, and opened them again.

'Good Morning' she said frostily.

'Hi' replied Ron grumpily.

'Look, about last night-'

'I know. Maybe we should…'

'Should what?'

'I don't know. Maybe we should take a break. For a while.'

'WHAT?' said an incensed Hermione.

'I said maybe…' Ron trailed off, looking worried, almost certain he had done something really bad this time. His worries were confirmed a moment later as Hermione launched into full flow.

'How dare you-'

'I didn't mean it like that-'

Oh, yes you did, and don't deny it! You're secretly tired of our marriage, and you want to end it! How dare you!-'

'Hermione, please just listen to me! I don't mean it like that, I really don't. But maybe we should take a rest until we have sorted out our differences, got our lives back into order. You can take some time off work, go visit friends, that kind of thing.'

There was along silence, only broken by the creaking of the floor boards above as Rose cleaned her teeth and washed her face.

'O.K. But don't you dare contact me. I want a little time to myself, without my new life getting in the way. Oh, and by the way, Rose and Hugo are your responsibility'

'Oh, alright. I can look after them, can't I?'

' I hope you do a better job on her than you did on you.'


	2. Chapter 2

Extendable Ears, Lasagne, and other such matters

With that, Hermione stalked out the room to pack her little beaded bag. The same bag in fact, that she had carried whilst she, Harry and Ron had used extensively in their hunt for Horcruxes. On her way up to her bedroom, she met Rose.

'Good morning sweetheart.' She said as she gave her only daughter a hug. 'How are you this morning, did you sleep well?'

'Oh yes, fine thanks Mummy. I heard shouting, are you and Daddy arguing over something?'

'How do you, how do you know..?' spluttered Hermione.

Rose held up an object Hermione vaguely recognised. A red-faced Rose elaborated guiltily;

'It's an Extendable Ear Uncle George gave me in secret, last time he visited. You were washing the dishes after dinner. Remember, the lasagne?'

Hermione did remember the lasagne. Not being a very good cook, she decided to make something simple. However, instead of salt, she had put sugar into the mixture before baking it. It was only after the first mouthfuls had been taken that she had realised her ghastly mistake and quickly transfigured it into the edible version. Ron had found this highly amusing, and George had mentioned that he could make a new line of trick food products in his shop, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Hermione was disapproving at first, but in the end she too had seen the funny side of it.

'Oh really! Is that what you've been doing at nights, listening to Ron and my conversations when you're meant to be asleep! If you think you can get away with that ANY longer young lady, you've got another think coming. Give me that, NOW!'

Hugo, hearing the disturbance, was roused from his slumber by all the arguing that was taking place at the top of the stairs. He trundled along in his striped pyjamas, yawning and rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he went. His eyes widened as he saw his mother and sister in full flow. He stopped and stared for a moment in silence, before enquiring 'Mummy, Rosie, what's happening? Where's Daddy? And why are you arguing? Has there been an accident?'

His eyes widened as he saw the Extendable Ear in Rose's hand. He looked tremendously guilty and immediately turned bright red with embarrassment.

Hermione registered Hugo's reaction and immediately realised Something was Up. Hugo joined Rose at the top of the stairs. They both refused to look her in the eye, instead offering explanations to their knees, along the lines of

'Were we _really_ naughty?'

'We didn't mean to be naughty. We were just trying it out'

'Were sorry Mummy, but PLEASE don't confiscate it, or you'll be more like Grandma Weasley than you would ever want to be…Pleeease?' Rose said cajolingly. You don't want to be like Dad's Mum, from what _we've_ heard. She is really nice to us, but according to Uncle George she always throws jokes like this one away. Daddy told us about the time she threw all the Ton-Tongue Toffees away because he gave them to Harry's horrid cousin Dudley and, and, and…'

She trailed off in a progressively quieter voice, but her lack of decibels was more than made up for by her mother, who had noticed Hugo creeping away with the Extendable Ear clutched in his fist. The yelling that ensued was broken up only some minutes later by Ron, who told Hermione to 'give the kids a break'

Later that day, Hermione sat on the sofa and thought. She wondered what to do without Ron and the kids. She could go to Australia, and give her parents their memories back, something she had been meaning to do for a while, ever since she had defeated Voldemort and settled down with a regular routine and savings to help her if ever she chose to visit the far side of the world where the people walked 'upside down'. She sat up suddenly, letting an angry Crookshanks fall off her lap. He landed on the cold floor and hissed at her in annoyance for robbing him of his usual warm, comfortable lap by the fire. She stroked him as an apology, whereupon he purred and rubbed his face against her leg. She picked him up carefully and placed him gently back on her lap, where he fell straight back to sleep again.

'You could come too you know.' She said to him. 'Would you like that? Of course you would. Lots of little animals to catch. You'd be in your element.' He twitched in a dream, so she laid him in his basket by the fire with a saucer of milk and a bowl of chicken. Them Ron walked in, breaking Hermione's bubble to the point of no repair.

'Oh. Oops. Sorry. I'll just…leave you to your thoughts then', he muttered quietly, shuffling his feet in awkwardly to cover his mistake.

'It's OK, said Hermione. I'm leaving tomorrow.'

'Where to?' asked Ron curiously.

'Why?' replied Hermione.

'So I can rescue you if you need it.'

'HONESTLY! Do you think I am that useless? _Oppugno_!' she screeched furiously. A hail of fat little yellow birds flew towards Ron, scratching and biting every last bit of flesh they could reach. He yelled 'gerremoffme!', and after a stupendous effort, cast a Shield Charm to repel them. Once recovered slightly, he turned accusingly to Hermione.

'I thought you had ruled the birds out! That's not fair. You could have warned me at least. Then I wouldn't be so angry. Where's the dittany?'

'Bathroom cabinet like always. Oh, no, wait! I packed it. Here, _Geminio._'

The dittany spit into two bottles. One flew to Ron, whilst the other leapt back to Hermione's bag.

'If that's all you want, then this is goodbye. See you in a few months.'

She turned in her heel, marched out the door and disappeared into the clouded sky.


	3. Chapter 3

**OK, I cannot say how sorry I am for just ABANDONING you after so few chapters, but I'll try, and say SORRY! Please forgive me!! I'll try to update a lot more often. I won't bore you with excuses, like GCSE's, and that boring stuff. It's quite long in comparison to my other chapters this time. Anyway, enough of my waffling. Here, finally, is the new chapter. Hope it's been worth the wait.**

Oz

Hermione power-walked into the back yard until she reached the first line of trees. This signalled that the Muggle-repelling charms were starting to thin off her house and garden. Before she could cause an alarm to any passing Muggle who could see her disapparating, she rapped her head hard with her wand, feeling an icy trickling down her back. When she looked down at her hands, she knew she had managed to disillusion herself correctly. When she arrived - somewhere - in Australia, she didn't want to cause a scene by appearing in a crowded city, especially in her robes. Hardly the height of fashion.

Finally, she turned into the suffocating blackness, thinking of kangaroos, the opera house, and sand. Lots of sand. A short moment later, she opened her eyes, and got her breath back. The horrible feeling of being squeezed down a tight rubber tube was familiar to her, but never had it lasted so long before. She supposed it was because she had to go to the other side of the world, not just a few miles away. This reasoning seemed accurate, as she had not read anything on the matter since taking her test many years previously.

She took in her surroundings for the first time. She knew she couldn't really be seen, but she could certainly be felt, so she quickly ducked into a nearby alley lined with doors before somebody walked into her. Then, keeping an eye out for observers, she regained her usual appearance and transfigured her clothes into nondescript Muggle attire that would hopefully attract no attention on the crowded streets of Sydney. She leant against the alley wall and breathed a sigh of relief. It hadn't really been part of her plan to end up in the middle of the Australian bush, so she was thrilled she had landed in the city.

She strode out into the street and tried to look like she knew where she was going. She had no clue of course, as France was the furthest afield she had been previously. She was mercifully shaded by the worst of the summer - well, winter - heat, but it was still pretty warm. She should have thought ahead and changed into lighter clothes, but she had not thought, with her only desire being to get out of the alley and to go somewhere. After a few minutes of strolling down the crowded pavements, she spotted a sign that made her heart leap. The Hilton should be within her budget, even if it was only for a night. She needed to spend a night, and then maybe get in touch with some friends who may be nearby.

She hoped the hotel had at least one welcome-witch/wizard who would be able to give her information on where to find the Australian branch of the Ministry of Magic. It shouldn't be too hard, there was one specifically employed by the ministry to be in a hotel to help foreign witches and wizards get back on their feet after arriving in a strange land. Especially one like Australia. Why was the place not crawling with them? It was 5 o'clock for goodness sake! There should be at least a few wizards about. The Ministry couldn't be that far away. She settled down on a bench in the lobby of the Hilton and scanned the seated people scattered around the floor. At first she saw nothing. Then, she saw more nothing. After what seemed like an age, she finally spotted an elderly gentleman holding what looked like a relative of the Evening Prophet. She approached him, slightly warily. The last thing she wanted was to alarm him and get hexed as a consequence. She sat down beside him on the red squashy sofa, and he suddenly looked up. He registered something in his eyes, and he said two words.

"Follow me."

He got up and strode towards a door marked as 'Staff Only'. He walked straight through. Through, as in, not opening the door. Slightly perturbed, Hermione followed suit, and to her surprise, she melted through the door as easily as the unknown man had done. From the other side, instead of a room or a corridor like Muggles would probably have seen, she was in a lift. Wow. The man was there, and he smiled for the first time. He said

"You followed me. Most don't, especially when they see that door trick." He chuckled, and pressed a button on the panel marked 'Atrium'. Just like the London Ministry. Hermione smiled inwardly. It seemed familiar in a comforting way in the new alien world she was in. Even just the names being somewhat familiar was a nice surprise, and it brought faraway England that little bit closer.

The lift stopped suddenly with a small jolt, waking Hermione from her reverie. She started, and followed the man out into a large, glass-roofed building that reminded her slightly of the greenhouses at Hogwarts, only a lot bigger, and minus the exotic, rare, magical plants. Bright sunlight streamed through, giving the place a cheery feel. It wasn't hot though. She supposed there was a hidden cooling system that kept the workers cool.

For this _was _the Ministry of Magic, Australia. It at least explained why she hadn't seen many workers on the streets. The Hilton had to have lots of exits onto the street. It was pure genius by whoever decided to situate the headquarters slap bang in the middle of a hotel. There was always going to be a steady in flux and out flux of people, and suits would make sense, because there would be businesspeople staying at the hotel. She barely had time to wonder at the cleverness before the stranger made himself into a non-stranger and introduced himself.

"Sorry, I've been quite rude not introducing myself. I'm Mike. I'm the welcome-wizard for the Hilton, but I'm also the greeter and interpreter for new arrivals. It's my job to welcome new arrivals to Australia and take them to the Ministry. Muggle have passport control, which is all very well, but wands tell you so much more about a person."

With this he held out his hand, clearly requesting her wand. She pulled it out of her robes and handed it to him. He put it on a set of scales identical, again, to the ones in London. There was a buzzing noise, and a slip of parchment zoomed out the base of her wand. Mike pulled it out and scanned it. His eyes widened as he read. When he had finished, he was silent. He looked at her. She looked back, and wondered what he had found.

"You're _Hermione Granger_! _Harry Potter's_ friend. You were the one who helped him defeat -" He lowered his voice, even though it was unnecessary. "-You-Know-Who! I'm honoured…"

He trailed off, which was just as well, because Hermione was starting to turn a shade of magenta reminiscent of Rita Skeeter's nails. She felt some explanations were in order, she wasn't _that _good.

"Mike, let me get one thing straight, please. I may be sounding rude, but really. I don't want _any _misunderstandings. Harry cast the spell that killed Voldemort -" He winced. "-and Ron Weasley and I were taking care of all the Death Eaters that kept trying to do us in! I just something a friend would do in any circumstance. We just did what we promised we would help with since our sixth year. We all settled down, got jobs, and everything's fine now. Don't go talking about Voldemort again, it gets on my nerves. Please."

There was a short beat of silence, and they were both laughing uproariously. Some office workers came around, looking around to see the source of all the commotion. They soon relaxed when there was no apparent threat. Then introductions were made. There were similar reaction to Mike's on the revelations of Hermione's identity, and some were totally different. She also met a woman called Sophie, who she was in contact with during her work with the Auror Offices in London.

"It's so nice to finally meet the lady behind the name!"

"Likewise."

They started walking down the corridor, towards the Auror Offices and the Department of Magical Games and Sports.

"You're doing a really great job, there are practically no tagged Dark wizards on the run anymore in your neck of the woods. Sadly, we still have a few. But we're working on it. We had more, because everyone fled to far-off countries like Australia and China, to get away from the commotion. It didn't really work too well though, their marks _do_ give them away somewhat."

They laughed in unison. Together, they had devised a system that was loosely based on the Marauder's Map of Hogwarts (although Hermione would never have admitted to that). It showed a map of the world, and little Dark Marks where a Death Eater was hiding. It wasn't a very sophisticated system, the budget had been cut to get Hogwarts and the Ministry, and London back into repair after the work of the most active Death Eaters, namely Bellatrix Lestrange. She had died in Azkaban a few years previously. A fitting end, everyone thought.

Sadly, due to these constraints, the map only showed approximate locations, which was not really enough to pounce a Death Eater, but sometimes enough to herd them into a trap. There were still a few clever ones about though. As they passed the giant map, Hermione spotted the names Rockwood, Malfoy, and Prewett in close proximity to each other. This alone made her worry. Sophie, noticing her gaze, nodded.

"We've been keeping a close eye on those three for a while. They keep vanishing as soon as we get even close to them. It's like they can feel us coming or something. It's maddening! But one day, soon, they'll get their dues. I will make sure of it."

Hermione looked back at Sophie in consternation. Mike, who was still with them, laughed.

"You worry too much Hermione. Nobody will be in any danger, I promise. We've got a really neat thing now, actually from England, now I think about it. Wizard Treeses, or something… _Leeses, _maybe. Shield Hats! There are also gloves and cloaks and other things too, but the hats came out first, so we have the most of those in the stockrooms.

Hermione gaped at him. Everyone stopped stock-still, wondering at her reaction.

"Oh! Ron's brothers, Fred and George, invented those. Fred was killed in that last battle…" She trailed off, but brightened again "I guess London doesn't keep a good thing like that under its hat? And it's Weasley's Wizard Wheezes."

Everyone chuckled, and resumed walking. Hermione suddenly realised that she had no idea where she was going. Was she meeting someone? She decided to ask Mike.

"Who am I meeting?"

"An old friend. I thought you'd like the surprise"

At that point, they arrived at a plain black door with a silver handle. Remembering that last time she had gone through a similar door, she shuddered slightly as Sophie knocked smartly on the door. A voice inside said "Come in!". Taking a deep breath, she opened the door, and entered.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi everyone! Thanks for reading so far (well, not very far!). I will try my best to update more often now. I might even manage once every week or 2, but, wait and see! Here is the next chapter. Disclaimer: Only Hermione and Ernie and original characters from JKR, the rest are OC's. **

Introductions

"Ernie?"

"Hermione!"

Ernie Macmillan jumped up, grinning from ear to ear. He was clearly delighted to see Hermione; he hadn't actually seen her sine he emigrated to Australia about 5 years ago. He also had had no idea that Hermione was coming, so it was a great surprise to him.

"It's been ages! You're doing well though, we keep getting reports about Death Eaters you catch every other day."

"Thank you. And, not quite!" She blushed again. Clearly, the reports were exaggerated. There weren't enough Death Eaters, mercifully. But still, it was nice to know she was thought of highly in the continent where everything was upside down.

"Don't be too modest! You haven't changed a bit. Even your wands the same!"

"Oh, yes. Harry only fixed it once with the Elder Wand. He's not using it though, he still prefers his holly and phoenix one."

Ernie shook his head in amazement. Any other wizard would kill, if not more, to get their hands on a wand like the Elder Wand, reportedly fashioned by Death himself. To have any control over it would be miraculous. Harry's control was perfect though; the wand answered to him, after he had overpowered the previous master. It was a gift beyond the wildest imaginings of any magical person or creature. Yet, Harry would not use the Elder wand, still preferring his original phoenix wand he had purchased from Ollivander all those years ago in Diagon Alley.

Hermione spoke up, voicing her praises to Ernie. She dimly remembered a tiny announcement of an emigration to Australia in a previous edition of the Daily Prophet, but she though he was an Obliviator. Not an Auror, despite his perfect grades and qualifications. He had passed his exams, but them switched jobs for a while back in London. Now he was in Australia, it seemed he had gone back to the work he did best.

"I knew you had a job in Australia somewhere, but I had no idea you were head of the Auror office over here! It's amazing that you got here after so short a time." She remarked. It was true. Ernie could have only got this job fairly recently, or she would have found out.

"Well, I caught Avery last year, remember? It was all over the news actually, now I think of it. It gave me a bit of a leg up. I actually only got _this_ job a few months ago. My predecessor retired because he felt he was too old. He also said he didn't want a nine till five job anymore, which makes sense when you're over eighty. It doesn't matter about that though. What are you doing over here though? I thought you were happy in London?"

Ah. Here was the tricky bit. How do you explain to a wizard that you want to find two Muggles, who not only had no memories of you, but you weren't even sure they were still _in _Australia. They could have moved! But…no, that was not only stupid, but practically impossible. It was their _life's ambition_ to live in Australia! They wouldn't have just _moved_. They should at least still be in Australia, if not in the same house, if her Memory Charm had been powerful enough to hold for all those years.

Ok, well, then, how did you find 2 Muggles, who probably not only looked somewhat Australian after all those years in the sun, but probably also sounded Australian, and had no memories of a daughter, or the magical world, like it was supposed to be?

"Well…" she began. How _did_ she phrase it?

"It's my parents. I modified their memories so they would move to Australia and forget they ever had a daughter, so Voldemort wouldn't get to me through them. The last thing we would have needed was _him _getting my parents. I loved them too much. It was really hard to let them go. But, when they looked at me with no recognition in their eyes, I knew they would be safe. I promised myself I would come back when everything had settled down, and I had some money saved up. Then I would come over here and give them their memories back, and tell them how sorry I was. They would understand after that, I hoped."

There was a very pregnant pause. Finally, Ernie replied.

"How exactly are you going to find your parents? In case you didn't realise, Australia is _rather_ huge. How long have you got to find them before you have to get back to the U.K.?"

"A while." Hermione replied coolly. "I took a month off. They can cope with that much. Much longer, and the children would get cross with me for leaving them to Ron's cooking. But then again, he'll probably take them to his mother's until I get back. He has no_ clue _about looking after them. He'd probably try and give them five different kinds of chocolate as their vegetables for the day."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. Only a _man _would be so stupid. Scratch that, only _Ron_ would be so stupid. She needed to be a responsible parent, _and _a responsible daughter. In that case, her parents had to come first. Because… they were closer geographically, and they had been waiting long enough. They needed to be released before something happened to them to lose their memories. A big shock or an emotional upheaval could cause the previous memories to vanish completely, beyond recovery, even to wizards.

So she needed to get there fast. Before anything happened. The last thing she wanted to happen was for her to get there and her parents not being able to remember her. That would just be…well… not good. Mildly put.

Everyone was deep in thought, when finally Sophie woke them from their reverie.

"OK, where in Australia are they? North, South, East or West?"

Oh bother. Hmmm.

"I'm sorry, I have no idea. I just modified their memories to move to Australia in general, not to a specific place. I just needed to get them out of the country and away from wizarding thoughts and memories, before Voldemort or a Death Eater or Dark wizard in general caused an accident to try to get to me. It would have got to me, got my attention. Like I said, I probably didn't think too much about everything I would have to do. I was only seventeen!"

Instead of Sophie's face falling at Hermione's sudden outburst though, she suddenly, and inexplicably, smiled.

"Good. Now we can put our system to the test."

"Yes!" Mike seemed just as excited as Sophie was. What on earth was going on here?

Mike led the way to a long, bright corridor. After walking down it for a few metres, he threw open a door to the left, showing the way into a dark room, which seemed even more dark next to the airy light of the corridor. He waved his arm to Hermione.

"Ladies first."

She walked in, closely followed by Sophie, then Mike came last, closing the door behind him. Faint stirrings of unease began to make themselves felt in the pit of her stomach. Just what was the point of all this?

Finally, things began to happen.

Sophie stalked around the room waving her wand madly around her head, muttering strange incantations Hermione had never heard of before.

As she walked, the lights began coming up. Gradually, Hermione could see that the room was quite large. There was no visible light source, but as she looked about, it became brighter and brighter.

The room was unremarkable. It had one totally blank wall, devoid of artwork, windows and doors. In front of it was a machine that would not have looked out of place in a high-tech Muggle laboratory. She disregarded it, not even trying to understand it. The other walls had a window each, and a squiggle of abstract art that looked like nothing in particular. Finally, Sophie and Mike pointed their wands to the blank, white wall and said firmly in unison

"Reviliem"

Hermione gasped. The oddly blank wall was changing. The _paint _was changing colours. At first, it was impossible to make out any specific image, but after a short moment, it revealed itself as an enormous map of Australia. Wow.

Sophie gently took Hermione by the arm. She put Hermione's finger on a small stick and pressed a button. Hermione gasped in pain.

"_Ow_!_ What was that for_? You might have warned me!"

"Sorry. I needed a DNA sample, and you probably would have put up a fight if I warned you."

OK… Huh?

"Whatever do you want my DNA for?"

Sophie ignored her, instead grabbing her punctured finger and squeezing a small drop of blood onto a slide. The slide she levitated with her wand until it slotted itself into hole near the middle of the machine. Immediately, blue, red and green lights came on and little whirring, beeping noises started from within the internal workings of the sleek black piece of technology.

"Sorry" Sophie apologised again. "I needed your DNA to get a match with half your parents DNA each. 23 of each of your chromosomes came from each of your parents. We will know half of each of their DNA that way. Now, let's do an Identi-Kit Match."

"She turned to the other side of the now bleeping machine. As she led Hermione around, she pointed her wand to Hermione's still-bleeding finger and murmured an incantation that sounded like a song. Immediately, the blood stopped, and there was no more throbbing, pulsing pain.

"Thanks!"

"You have more to tell us other than your DNA though. I need you to describe each of your parents to this computer here."

She pressed a few keys on an inbuilt laptop-type creation. It lit up instantly, and an unfamiliar programme started up. Options came up on the screen.

"We'll start with your dad first. Date of birth?"

"18th of December, 1958"

"Hair colour?"

"Brown."

"Eye colour?"

"Green"

Click click click, tap tap tap.

"Height?"

"6' 1'' "

"Skin colour?"

"Pale, with freckles on his nose."

"Sweet."

The questions continued in a similar vein for quite some time. Likes, hobbies, and so on. Anything that could be linked to DNA. Then there was a repeat of the same questions for her mum. _Finally_, everything was done. There were a few minutes while the overwhelming amount of information was processed.

"OK, we're done now. One second, and I'll get the information."

Unlike Muggle technology, little wisps of silvery gas was escaping the machine. Sophie caught them with her wand, and shoved them into two bottles. One for her mom, one for her dad. As Hermione looked at them she suddenly realised what they resembled. They looked like the silvery thoughts that lived in the Pensieve. That made sense then.

Still holding the bottles, Sophie walked to the map on the wall. While she walked, Hermione realised there had been yet _another_ change to the wall. It had lumps and bumps. And it was _hot_. With a sudden burst of understanding, everything made sense.

It was a topographical map of Australia. Mountains stuck up, valleys dipped down. Desert and bush were hot, and the surrounding oceans were comparatively cool.

"Wow" Hermione breathed. "_This _is what you were talking about. The system you were both so excited to test out?"

"The very one." Replied Mike cheerfully. It's fairly new technology, and now we can see how well it works.

Sophie took the bottle containing all the known information on Hermione's father, and shot the contents towards the magically-enhanced wall. Immediately, it changed again. The desert and mountains and ocean had disappeared, replaced by a picture of her dad.

**Thank you **_**so **_**much for reading. Please review! Pretty please?**


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Sorry for the wait! Will try to get this moving again :)

The breakup

Chapter 5

Hermione took in the picture on the wall. Truly, she hadn't realised how much she had missed her parents. Until that picture of her dad brought it all home to her. A tear sprang up in the corner of her eye, and she dabbed at it, suddenly embarrassed at her emotional display.

Sophie silently passed her a conjured tissue, patting her on the shoulder.  
"It's OK, you know. Everything will be fine. We can track him, you will see him soon. One sec..."  
She waved her wand wildly at the wall, and a blinking dot appeared on the hot lumpy surface, somewhere around Sydney. More incantations provided a zoomed view, and it was soon apparent that Hermione's dad was in a gated compound, living in a huge house. Judging by that, her parents were at the very least doing well financially.

"Now for your mother. Same information please."  
Hermione complied, and it wasn't very long before a picture of her mother was on the screen too. This time Hermione scarcely glanced at the picture before collapsing into quiet sobbing. She felt so _guilty_ for modifying their memories, for making them uproot their comfortable life in England and move to the other side of the world. She wasn't even sure how to give them their memories _back_, let alone explain to them the reason for her actions. What a mess there was now! The worst part was that she had only herself to blame.

The machine, fortunately, showed her mother and father in the same house, which not only made finding them that much easier, but also (almost certainly) meant that her parents were still living together. For that Hermione was glad. While they may have lost years of their only child, through no fault of _their_ own, at least they still had each other, a constant in an ever-changing web of confusion, lies, and spells.  
Mike took Hermione's other shoulder, sandwiching her between the two officials. The warm presences, however unfamiliar, were comforting, and it was easy to close her eyes and imagine they were actually her parents, safe and sound and recalling everything as if the last years had never happened.

After a while, Hermione summoned enough strength to dry her tears, paste a smile on her face (albeit a wobbly one), and generally pull herself together out of her reverie. It was useless to pine over the past, when what was done was done. She needed to research how to get her parents memories back before she paid them a visit. Otherwise there was a sad possibility that her parents would evict her from their home, when they did not recognise her. This sobering thought almost cost her the shaky composure she had conjured, but she kept her brave mask on by sheer strength of will. It was with a will that she began to employ her agile mind into a plan of action.

Step 1, thank Mike and Sophie for all that they had done. Step 2, write down her parents' address. Step 3, find a good library and settle down for research. Step 4…. Erm. Finish steps 1 to 3 first!

"Thank you Sophie, thank you Mike, for all you have done for me today. Not just the patting me on the shoulder bit, but for helping me find my parents, sort of. You probably wouldn't fully understand how much this means to me, but I have done wrong by both my parents, and so it's time that I lived up to the consequences of all the mistakes I made when trying to protect my parents from Voldemort.

A few last things though. Can either one of you get a street address for that house? I would need it for apparition, or maybe even for a taxi."

"Sure thing" said Mike. A rapid flick of his wand produced a scrap of paper with the location, which Hermione put in her beaded bag.

"I also wonder if either of you can recommend a good magical library. I need to do research into un-modifying my parents' memories. Any ideas?"

This time, it was Sophie who answered.

"You're a Ministry official back home, aren't you?

"Yup, an Auror actually."

"Well then, you'll be fine to use our local Auror database then? Since you're not actually based here you'll have to register things like your name and wand, but that shouldn't be a problem I suppose. As well as tabs on the nasties, we have a whole load of information on curses, countercurses, and all sorts of magic that we might need in an investigation. I've never managed myself, but Memory Charms _can_ be broken by a powerful witch or wizard. So, I'm sure with the right spell _you_ could do that, no problem!"

Hermione blushed at the compliment, but was relieved at the reminder. She had indeed forgotten about that loophole in Memory Charms, and that also made her job a whole lot easier.

"Wonderful, that sounds perfect, thanks. Could I start now?"

Sophie laughed at her eagerness, and led her down the hall to the library.

AN: It's kinda slow moving, but I will try and do a few more chapters and see where that gets us. BUT only if I get reviews! X


	6. Chapter 6

The Breakup

Chapter 6

Hermione arrived at a library that was almost a carbon copy of the one in England. She was amazed at the similarities they possessed – even the tea and coffee rings were the same on the multitude of tables liberally dispersed about in a haphazard manner. She turned to Sophie.  
"Is this for real? If my rational mind weren't fully functioning, I could swear I was back home, starting a normal day's work in the UK. The room is exactly the same, down to the ratty old armchairs that are beyond even magical help. For pity's sake, the cobwebs are even in identical places! How did you get it so much the same? It's kind of…. unnerving."

Sophie merely laughed, and explained patiently that due to the alliance between the Australian and British Ministries, some aspects of both offices were alike. The Auror Libraries were linked, with books being available in both libraries via some form of Summoning system between them. This meant that unless the book was taken out of the library, anyone in the UK or Australian branch would have access to the _same_ book, anytime. The book itself would either be in one or the other, but the magic was such that it could move almost as though it were Apparating, if the other side wanted it. When the book was not on the requested end, it showed up in a ghostly form until it was picked off the shelf, whereupon it would zip through the ether and appear in the hands of the reader.

Hermione marvelled at it all, especially since she had thought herself reasonably educated on such matters. Apparently she was not. She internally huffed in (mild) annoyance. She had always been known as the 'clever one', at least as regards 'book smarts', and so to have her reputation crash about her ears (much like the time Harry lost his 6th year potion book) like that, was an uncomfortable feeling to say the least. Now she felt some small shred of sympathy at Harry's old plight, although she still held a firm conviction that wretched, loathsome book was a cheating sort of menace to hard-working people who _actually studied_. Not dark, but irksome.

_Focus, Hermione_ she ordered herself internally. This was absolutely not the time to start talking to herself about something that was not anybody's fault. She thanked Sophie for guiding her, and sat down to install herself in a corner, not planning to emerge until she had found even a shred of information that would be in any way useful to her quest.

She called an elf for some coffee, parchment, and a self inking quill, and briefly reflected on her change in attitude towards that particular kind of creature. She knew that many wizards had them, and most ministries had a taskforce of a few, but she just rarely used one. Her beliefs had changed a lot, and she now accepted them as there to do her bidding, she just didn't abuse that power. Whereas before she would have thrown a fit at the idea of asking one for coffee, her matured brain had accepted that that was their function in the magical world, and that 99.99999% of them were thrilled with their lot and wouldn't change their responsibilities for anything.

Finally she cradled the warm cup in one hand, and started scanning the shelves in a few likely areas in order to select a few texts to start scanning through. From there she would narrow down her options, and take notes on anything she found. It shouldn't be too difficult, seeing as it had been done before. However, she had to research it the old fashioned way. Which was reminded her of revision and studying in the Hogwarts library – an oddly soothing notion.

Several quiet hours passed, the only sound being the noises made by the clock, the quill against the parchment, the rustling of pages, and from Hermione herself. Finally, she stood up and stretched.

"Last text. Then I _have_ to go to sleep" she ordered herself. She sat back down, opened 'Bewitched and Bewildered' and started looking at the table of contents. Suddenly, she sat up a lot straighter, as though hit with a stinging hex to the rump. _This_ was what she had been looking for all along. Never mind that it was the last book she had garnered, (such was the way of the world), it seemed to have the information she had sought for the last few hours. Frantically, barely heeding the rather delicate-looking pages, she leafed through to page 56, and started reading as fast as her eyes and brain allowed. A frisson of excitement started through her, and them she began to take notes. Lots of notes. Then her hand began to cramp, and she dictated to her quill.

"In order to restore memories once known, great demands are placed on the one restoring such thoughts. No aid save the here mentioned magics need be used, but such a process is very magically taxing, and must therefore be provided and accounted for in preparations for the same.

Equally, any errors in pronunciation or wand movement may cause dramatic consequences, from mere ineffectiveness, to total memory modification to all parties involved. Care must be taken, and steps such as practicing the incantation and wand movements separately before the ritual are advised to any wizard or witch wishing to undertake such a process, no matter magical or mental capabilities.

The incantation is as follows: Sententia Restituo, with a swish and flick movement illustrated below.

This spell is believed to have originated from the ancient Romans, back from the reign of Augustus when he wished to counteract the forgetfulness charms placed on many of the courtiers who had listened to secret counsels. His success would change recollection magic, and play a great part in shaping it as we see it today."

Hermione leaned back with a sigh of relief, and silenced her quill. She dried the ink on the parchment, and rolled it up, then stored everything in her beaded bag, leaving the coffee cup on the table and banishing the books to their respective shelves. She sent a Patronus message to both Sophie and Mike, if either of them were free to escort her out and up to a place to sleep. She may be a night owl, but it was almost 4am UK time, and she needed to sleep, desperately.

Sophie and Mike arrived together, a bit of a surprise, but not an unwelcome one. Sophie inquired as to her progress, and Hermione updated them both on her success.

"Awesome!" said Mike, grinning exuberantly. "However, you look about ready to pass out, so we'll both escort you right up. The beauty of our location means we have great accommodation for anyone visiting the Ministry without a place to stay. Are you OK with staying technically above the Australian Ministry of Magic?"

"Sure. Frankly at the moment I just want a place to sleep. So a hotel room sounds sublime."

"Fine" said Sophie, starting to lead the trio up the passageway. "Mike and I will take upi right on up to the lobby, and get you checked in. Remember to set your alarm for a sensible Australian time, to get your body a bit adjusted. There are potions on the market, but we've all tried them and they're totally useless. Best do it the Muggle way."

"Urgh, thanks for the advice, I suppose!"

The Australians laughed at the disgruntled look on Hermione's face, and carried on up through the labyrinth of corridors.

**AN: PLEASE REVIEW! I would really like to get an idea of how many people actually like this story, and for that I would equally adore feedback. If everything is negative and everyone seems to hate this, I will discontinue it. Which I don't think I want to do?**

**So please, review! I would love any input on where to take this. (I have plans, but they can change…) X**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Any feedback is greatly appreciated! Same goes for constructive criticism, and pretty much any input actually. I'm loving the alerts and faves this is getting - it's wonderfully encouraging! X**

The Breakup

Chapter 7

Mike and Sophie led Hermione out of the library, through a myriad of rooms, corridors and passageways, up stairs, and down via elevators. Just as she was become sure they were lost deep in the bowels of the Australian Ministry, they emerged on the other side of the door on the hotel, the same one she had walked 'through' so many lifetimes ago, it seemed.

"This is where I leave you." Mike muttered. He shuffled his feet, shifting his weight on the spot. "The lady at the counter - a Muggle in every sense of the word - hates my guts, ever since she noticed me walking _through_ the door with someone. Even with a Memory Charm, she still hates me for no real reason. I wouldn't put it past her to impale me on the end of a quill given half a chance."

"I might have guessed it was woman trouble. Besides, I think you're safe from quills. She's a _muggle_, she would have a biro or something." Hermione chuckled, suddenly understanding Mike's awkwardness, and why he seemed unwilling to walk into the lobby with her. Sophie, however, had no such qualms. She merely let Hermione bid goodbye to Mike (who was trying to understand the concept of a _biro_) before steering her towards the front desk with an iron grip reminiscent of Rita Skeeter's.

"Can I book a room for my colleague here? She's just arrived from England, so she's pretty jet-lagged. However, in her haste, she forgot to book a place to stay. What is there available for... now?"

"Sure! Luckily we're not too full at the moment, so we have a few rooms free. Is the 10th floor OK? You don't have a problem with heights do you?

"No, not a problem" It wasn't strictly true, but in a hotel, she knew she wouldn't fall off a broomstick or Thestral, so she was happy with it in this case.

"All righty then. Here's your room card. It also acts as money for the duration of your stay, so everything is added to your final bill. Your card will direct the lift to the correct floor, and it also operates the lights, water, and telephone situated in your room."

"Thank you ever so much for all your help, I think I'd better go up and try to get myself used to the time difference!"

The receptionist chuckled good-naturedly, doubtless she encountered this kind of behaviour frequently. Sophie grasped Hermione by the arm as though taking her by Side-Along Apparition, but it was really to support the poor witch, who looked dead on her feet. Up in the elevator, and down a short passageway led Hermione to one of the most welcome sights in the world right then. A soft, warm bed, and the promise of a peaceful sleep. Sophie put the card into the slot in the wall so Hermione could use electricity and water, then bade her companion goodnight and exited the room, locking the door behind her with a simple Privacy charm. Hermione waved faintly, then removed her jacket and shoes and slumped down onto the bed, exhausted. Rationally, she knew she shouldn't go to sleep, that she should brush her teeth and complete other basic ablutions, first, but her legs were being rather uncooperative. Instead, she mustered the last of her energy and wandlessly set the alarm clock for 10am local the next morning. Then the brown haired witch flopped down again, and instantly fell into a deep, dreamless slumber.

**AN: This is moving quite slowly, but I have lots of twists and turns to add before Hermione reaches her parents. Review with ideas and I will PM you if you're right! X**


	8. Chapter 8

The Breakup

Chapter 5

**AN: So, I am going to twist this story. Not so the rating changes (that's what my other fic is for!). But so there may be angst, and general drama. Maybe. Before I start waffling, on with the chapter!**

Hermione was having a very strange dream. She could see her parents, but they were somehow out of reach, behind a partially open set of bars. But as soon as she touched the bars, an alarm sounded, and her parents began to fade away. The alarm got louder, and louder, until Hermione woke up to the sound of the alarm on her room that she had set. She groaned, and whacked the offending bit of technology with her wand, causing it to shriek and make a sad noise before silencing totally.

Satisfied with her revenge, the young witch forced herself unwillingly out of her warm and attractive bed. A flick of her wand set coffee going as she stumbled into the hotel shower. Morning ablutions completed, she dressed in robes that were informal, but not ragged, and pulled her hair into a loose ponytail to dry. Then she duplicated a hotel muffin, and transfigured her own one into a set of toast, with butter and a hint of jam. Coffee brewed, she ate and drank with relish, having exhausted herself the day before. Once finished, she cleaned up her breakfast and brushed her teeth again. Then she grabber her beaded bag, making sure she had left nothing important like her room key or wand in the room, and set off back down to the Ministry to see Sophie and Mike.

Once she got down to the lobby, she asked a porter for a pod to direct her to Sophie and Mike. She programmed it, and it led her down to the same room that had held the maps of Australia and the images of her parents. However, the map did not just show the locations of her parents this time. Instead, this image included all the Dark Marks. And there were a _lot_ near Hermione's parents. Hermione took one look at it, and instantly her mood changed from cheerful to horror-struck faster than a set of traffic lights. Were her parents involved somehow with Death Eaters? In a good way or a bad way? The questions raced in laps around her suddenly frenzied mind like she had taken a Babbling Beverage instead of her coffee that morning. She felt a bit sick – what if her parents were being hurt by them? She knew that they would never be in league with them, which was a blessing, but still she fretted worse than Molly Weasley sometimes.

"What does it mean?" she asked, her voice betraying her true feeling when her face did not. "Are they in danger, tracked, unaware – " She was cut off mid-sentence by Mike making soothing gestures with his hands and Sophie shushing her as they might a troublesome toddler. Immediately she felt aggrieved, she didn't want to sit here and be placated! She wanted answers, and then she wanted to find her parents ASAP, before somebody else did. No chances could be taken, what if a Death Eater got to them simply because she dawdled?

But soon a rational streak set in. Her parents had waited for years for her – a few days at the most shouldn't hurt. Of course she had a rocket up her rear, but she had to ignore her Gryffindor side and focus on Slytherin strategies now. After all, she would be up against Slytherins from now on anyway. She turned to Mike and Sophie with a steely glint in her eye reminiscent of Professor McGonagall. She said to them both

"I need your help. Death Eaters, or no Death Eaters, I will see my parents again, and I will restore their memories. I just need your help and support. Are you with me?"

They nodded the affirmative, looking rather alarmed at the mood swings.

"Let's do this."

**AN This is a little twist, and kind of shows Hermione as being bossy again. **

**Like, don't like? **

**Review please! X**


	9. Chapter 9

The Breakup

Chapter 9

**AN: Thanks for all your alerts and faves. I have not yet had a review for chapter 8 ;( So if you're reading this, you know what to do at the end of this chapter…! ;) Sorry for the wait though! X**

Mike and Sophie looked a little alarmed at Hermione's attitude. But they nodded their agreement, and set to work immediately. Mike set to mapping and listing all the local Death Eaters known to be walking free at the time, and Sophie started helping Hermione to 'draft' her opening speech to her parents, in order to let her perform the necessary magic on them in order to restore their memories of their witch daughter. Thus, the speech needed to be carefully worded, so as not to cause undue suspicion or distress prior to the spell, in order to make Hermione's job easier and to increase the likelihood of magical success. However, Hermione needed to think of what she was going to say to her parents. "Hi Mum, Dad, sorry I erased your memories of me and (consequently) most of your lives, but there was an evil wizard who's now been dead for years, and I just never bothered to come release you from the spell because I was too busy with my own family life." Err, yeah, _not_.

Ernie was enlisted to garner as much information as possible from the archives. Chances were that there would not be much, but he had top-level clearance, which meant that anything he could not access was unlikely to be of great relevance to the current challenge. He wasn't sure what would count as _un_helpful, so he swept up as many files as he thought could possibly be relevant, and banished them to where the rest of the team was working before continuing with his search. Finally, he decided that if he were to send over many more files he might just as well transfer the archives to the other wing, and so he stopped his search and followed his last file bundle back to the trio.

Whilst Ernie had been sending down most of the archives, Hermione had perfected her speech, and practiced the spells she would need for the great recollection. She did not say the incantation at first, but practiced the wand movement with a pen and then with her wand whilst under a silencing charm. She didn't want to accidentally cast a charm on anyone or anything. After she had the swish-and-flick perfected, she practiced the pronunciation, in case she stumbled over her words during the real thing. She remained silenced at first, then put down her wand and kept her hands locked to prevent wandless magic. Finally, she was as prepared as she ever could be, magically and regarding her explanation. Now she needed to check that her parents were free from Death Eater interference, and for that, she needed Mike's help and Ernie's files.

Several productive hours later, it was nearly the end of the day, and there was only one Death Eater who could possibly be considered a threat. Travers, whom Hermione had not seen since that fateful day in Gringotts, was living a few hundred yards from her parents. The Ministry records showed no direct contact, but Muggle police paperwork told a nasty tale of petty crime against the Grangers for the past year, supposedly instituted by a 'Greg Avery'. Windows smashed garden trampled, small petty things. But the worrying thing was a 'strange, unidentifiable symbol' repeatedly daubed about their dwelling. Flicking through, Hermione gasped in recognition. It was the Dark Mark.

**AN: Cliffie! Please review! X**


	10. Chapter 10

The Breakup

Chapter 10

**AN: WOAH, we are in double figures for this story! Since I had abandoned it before, I think that's rather exciting really. There was a bit of a delay due to school-y things, but no matter, there is now an update. Still no reviews, and I KNOW this is being read because my traffic says so. So PLEASE review, and make my day **

Hermione sat her 'team' down for some major planning of What To Do. Fortunately for the Statute of Secrecy, the Muggles continued to be baffled by the meaning behind that Dark Mark. Thankfully, her parents were never hurt, and never saw anyone, since the attacks always took place when they were not at home. The CCTV of the compound was the only lead they had on Greg Avery, since he didn't seem to be very smart for a wizard, as he didn't bespell the cameras to ignore him, or use a disillusionment charm. Though perhaps he had merely not thought of it.

The main objective would be to offer the Grangers some sort of bogus protection programme, in order to remove them from the danger area. Then they would be taken to a safe-house or maybe an unplottable hotel, where Hermione would sort out their memories (or lack of), and theoretically start the process of forgiveness between them all. Then they would pack up and leave for England, back to their original home, which Hermione had bought through an intermediary when it went on the market, and had maintained for reasons she couldn't really justify except perhaps on the grounds of sentimentality.

Finally, after intensive planning, they all decided on a course of action. Hermione would meet and greet her parents, while the rest of her team guarded around the house, in case Greg Avery decided to show up again. If he _did _arrive, they would catch him, and use the CCTV evidence against him in Muggle court, since there seemed to be no magic involved in any of his recorded actions.

The man was clearly a little addled by the war, and held little regard for the Statute of Secrecy. While he was not actually doing magic in public (that they could tell), he was flaunting a powerful magical symbol, perhaps as a reminder to Australian wizards that while Voldemort was dead, there would (unfortunately) always be a contingent of Dark wizards. That was the most likely theory at least. Others had ranged far and wide, but that was not the point. Greg Avery would _not_ cause an issue to Hermione and her family. Not while she wielded magic!

At long last, the preparations were set in motion. Hermione had planned what she would say to her parents before and after restoring their memories, and hopefully, all being well, she would be forgiven. Greg Avery would not be allowed anywhere near the Grangers, and Hermione would help her parents pack up and leave for England in the next day or so, taking them and their luggage via Apparition to save the bother of flights and the like. Their house was warded as added protection, since it had become habit of most of Hermione's generation to put up protective spells over any dwelling they owned. Even Arthur Weasley's shed had Muggle repelling charms on it! The Granger house had every _other_ protection upon it except those, for obvious reasons.

After that, they would live happily every after… Unfortunately, every plan involving the clash of muggle and magical worlds seemed to be meant to go wrong. She would just have to hope for the best, and that she would be forgiven for what she had done.

**AN: Like? Don't like? Please review! X**


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